More girls enter puberty at age 7 - study
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More White and Latina girls are entering puberty at age 7, a new study in pediatrics found.
The study led by Dr. Frank M. Biro, director of adolescent medicine at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and colleagues showed almost 15 percent of Latina girls and more than 10 percent white girls were beginning puberty at 7.
One study released in 1997 found 5 percent of white girls had started puberty by the age of 7. The current study suggests that the rate of early puberty in girls is on the rise.
Both studies found the same rate of early puberty for Black girls at 25 percent.
For the current study, Dr. Biro and colleagues examined 1,238 girls ages 6 to 8 who lived in Cincinnati, East Harlem N.Y. and San Francisco for their breast development.
By age 8, 18 percent of whites, 43 percent of blacks and 31 percent of Latinas were found to have entered puberty.
The study does not provide any reason why girls entered puberty at such a young age. But the researchers were cited in media reports as saying that one reason could be the body fat, which increases the blood levels of estrogens that promote breast development.
Early puberty has been linked to a number of health problems including reduced self-esteem, eating disorders, depression, early sexual activity, and later menopause, which is linked to elevated risk of breast cancer.
Biro was quoted by LAtimes.com as saying that "For younger children and the tweens, they should probably live a little bit greener," Biro said. "People could eat together as families — not avoiding fast food, but minimizing it to once a week — and families could engage in regular physical activity."
Early puberty has something to do with girls' diet.
One study reported in the July 14 2010 issue of American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that eating soy products in childhood may help delay puberty.
Cheng G and colleagues from Research Institute of Child Nutrition in Dortmund, Germany found girls who had the highest intake of dietary isoflavone experienced breast development 0.7 year later than those who had the lowest intake.
Cheng G et al. also published a study in the Jan 2010 issue of Journal of Nutrition saying that diet quality in childhood is associated with the timing of puberty.
For the study, the researchers analyzed the nutritional data from 222 participants and found those who had lower scores of nutrient-density based nutritional quality index entered puberty 0.4 years earlier than who had higher scores.
One important factor may be the hormone IGF-1.
One animal study authored by Sara A. DiVall at Johns Hopkins University found hormone IGF-1 plays a key role in the timing of puberty onset.
Some studies imply that high intake of sugar demands high output of insulin and high levels of insulin come with high levels of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1).
By Jimmy Downs
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